SHA will be making changes to the intersection of Rt. 29 and Rivers Edge Road due to the number of serious accidents there. Previously, SHA had suggested removing the traffic signal and eliminating Rivers Edge Rd. access to/from Rt. 29 northbound; this was vigorously opposed by our community including a petition signed by 472 households. As a result of our petition and the support of our elected officials including Guy Guzzone, Shane Pendergrass, and Frank Turner, SHA has developed a new set of preliminary design concepts that preserves our community access to and from Rt. 29 northbound.
The design concepts:
- Remove the traffic signal at the intersection of Route 29 and Rivers Edge Rd.
- Extend the on/off ramps to/from Rt. 29 southbound to allow more time to merge (since the traffic won’t be stopped at a signal)
- Create a bridge over (or possibly tunnel under) Rt. 29 to provide access to/from Rt. 29 northbound; the location of the bridge/tunnel and whether it connects Rivers Edge Rd. to Old Columbia Rd. on the east side of Rt. 29 varies.
SHA established a small Focus Group to review these preliminary design concepts and has now provided electronic copies for our community to review. Please note that these are preliminary concepts; SHA has not yet reviewed them for environmental and engineering feasibility.
- HD_US29_Alternative 1A
- HD_US29_Alternative 1B
- HD_US29_Alternative 2
- HD_US29_Alternative 3
- HD_US29_Alternative 4
The notes from the SHA Focus Group meeting and SHA responses to various questions are here:
A community open house was held June 19th where community members viewed and discussed the preliminary design concepts. Residents’ preferred design concepts were recorded and will be provided as early feedback to SHA. If you were not able to attend the open house, please send your preferences in writing to Don Witten (see newsletter for Don’s address) or complete the poll on this website: here.
This Fall, SHA will have a public meeting where they will present mature designs to the entire community. For more details on the upcoming community and SHA meetings please see the June 2014 Newsletter.
SHA has gone to significant lengths to include our community in this planning and we want to encourage them to continue, so please do not deluge SHA with calls, mail, or email. There is a working group of community members that includes Focus Group members and can answer many questions and will gather the early community feedback to present to SHA in an organized manner.
Hi,
Looks like SHA has done a good job.
From the perspective of the safest design for Rivers Edge Community children traveling on school buses to and from school the proposals rank as follows:
Alternative 1a – The best – plenty of ramp for traffic and slow school buses to match speed of cars on Rte 29.
Alernative 1b – Second best – shorter ramps.
Alternative 4 – Acceptable – longer ramps equivalent to 1b.
Alternative 2 – Acceptable – short ramps (existing ramps) Southbound not good for merging slow school bus.
Alternative 3 – Unacceptable – short ramps Southbound – heavy traffic on long stretch of Old Columbia.
In my opinion the safety of school children is the primary goal for the intersection. Everything else is window dressing.
Pete the nerd